Monitoring freeze-thaw events in Siberia using the seawinds Ku-band scatterometer: first results

In this paper we will report the first results of our work carried out within the framework of the SIBERIA II project. This project has the aim to demonstrate the viability of full greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting using a set of multi-sensor Earth Observation instruments, detailed existing databases of field information and some of the worlds most advanced climate models. Freeze-thaw information is intended to be used for validation and input into the GHG models. Utilising the high temporal sampling of the SeaWinds sensor on QuikSCAT, along with a unique gridding and extraction method, from observational to analysis space, we present a new approach for freeze-thaw detection by time series analysis and evaluation of the temporal characteristics of the backscattered signal.